Federal Funds Redirected: EV Charger Money Must Now Go to Road and Bridge Repair

The aptly named Highway Funding Flexibility Act of 2025 is less about flexibility and more about a hard pivot. This bill takes federal money specifically allocated in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) for building out the national electric vehicle (EV) charging network and mandates that it be spent on traditional highway, bridge repair, and wildlife crossing projects instead. Essentially, if a dollar was supposed to build a charger, it now has to fix a pothole or a bridge, effective immediately for all unspent funds and for all future allocations starting October 1st of each fiscal year (SEC. 2, SEC. 3).

The Great EV Funding U-Turn

To understand the real-world impact, you have to look at what this money was supposed to do. The IIJA set up the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) grant program to make sure people could actually drive EVs across the country without range anxiety. This bill explicitly cancels that original purpose. All existing, unspent funds from both NEVI and CFI programs—plus every dollar allocated to them in the future—must now be distributed to state DOTs to fix roads and bridges, or build wildlife crossings to prevent car collisions (SEC. 2).

If you’re a contractor who was planning on bidding on a federal project to install high-speed chargers along an interstate corridor, that money is now off the table. If you’re a commuter considering an EV but waiting for more public charging options near your workplace or along your vacation route, this bill hits the brakes on those plans. For states, this is a clear win for their immediate road maintenance budgets, as these new funds are in addition to their existing highway allocations, giving them a sudden, unexpected boost for traditional infrastructure projects (SEC. 2, Funding Treatment).

Who Wins and Who Pays the Price

The clearest beneficiaries are state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) who are constantly scrambling for money to address deferred maintenance on roads and bridges. This bill provides a quick, massive influx of cash that must be used for those exact purposes. For example, a state can now use what was meant for a chain of charging stations to replace a structurally deficient bridge listed in the National Bridge Inventory (SEC. 2, Redirecting Unused EV Funds). This is a direct, immediate benefit to road users and the construction industry.

However, the cost is borne by those pushing for or relying on the transition to electric vehicles. For the average person looking to buy an EV, the lack of federally funded charging infrastructure means relying solely on private investment, which may not prioritize rural or less trafficked areas. This shift effectively slows down the market signal that the federal government was sending to automakers and consumers about the availability of charging. It puts the brakes on meeting the original national goals for EV deployment, making it harder for people who are trying to manage rising gas prices by making the switch (SEC. 3, Restrictions on Spending the Reassigned Funds).

The Administrative Shift

Beyond the spending redirection, the bill also mandates a rapid administrative change. The Secretary of Transportation must distribute all future annual allocations to states on October 1st of the fiscal year, and this includes money that was previously set aside for specific national support offices or targeted grants. This accelerates the flow of cash to the states, which is generally good for getting projects moving quickly, but it also dissolves the federal government’s ability to use those set-aside funds for national coordination or targeted assistance for states struggling with EV deployment (SEC. 2, Changing How Set-Aside Money is Distributed). The net effect is a significant shift in priorities, moving federal infrastructure funding away from future-focused energy policy and back toward immediate, traditional road maintenance.